D Day Was Insane - Band Of Brothers Recap - Episode 2

As a reminder, these recaps are not meant to be a frame-by-frame retelling of the episode with my thoughts; rather, they are reactions to details or storylines as I view them through my lens in the Army. Enjoy!

It is widely accepted that this is the best episode of the series and for good reason as we have the jump into Normandy and ensuing fighting. I'm not about to give some persnickety contrarian take how it's not actually the best episode for xyz reason and blah blah blah because it's the best episode by a mile. We see the men experiencing battle for the first time during one of the most famous battles in the history of the world. Speaking of, General Eisenhower's letter to the men before the invasion is also all-time. 

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Ok so onto my episode takeaways:

Landmarks

When Winters lands and runs into the Soldier from Able company he tells him to look for landmarks. Prior to most any mission in the Army, you will brief the plan using a sand table that has a scaled model of the area of operations. It will almost certainly include major landmarks within the area. These landmarks will allow you to orient yourself to where you are on your map, shoot an azimuth (look at your compass), and move out toward your objective. The thing about landmarks is it helps if it isn't dark outside and you can see anything. I think you noticed that no one had their night vision goggles with them. Either they fell off during the jump or oh yea, they didn't have them because they weren't in use by the Army until the 1960s. (For the "well actually" crowd, yes the technology existed but it wasn't something that was issued to every Solider). 

For those keeping track, it is D-Day, they were behind enemy lines, didn't have weapons, and they didn't know right away where they were because they missed their drop zone. Turns out, there was a full moon that night so the illumination definitely helped but it must've been nerve racking to not know where you were and have young Soldiers looking to you because they were scared too. Either way, Winters got his bearings and got his men to their objective to link up with the rest of Easy Company. This instance of leadership is overshadowed by the overt display of courage later in the episode but don't dismiss how important it was that he got them to the rally point first. 

Guarnere and Winters

A fan favorite in the series is William "Wild Bill" Guarnere. It is hard not to love him as he embodies everything you'd look for in a Soldier. Despite going through training together, Wild Bill still had his reservations about LT Winters. Guarnere thought based on Winters' religion (or the religion he thought Winters followed) that he'd be a liability in combat. Beyond religion, this is common among Non Commissioned Officers and Officers in the military. Most NCOs will show respect for their platoon leader's rank right off the bat, but respecting them as a leader is earned. 

This is on full display when Guarnere unloads on the Germans ahead of Winters' command and then continues to fire until Winters emphatically orders him to cease fire. Guarnere was acting as he saw fit because he thought Winters wouldn't get the job done. The stare down between the two men following the incident was bone chilling. However, Guarnere changed his tune after the assault on the machine guns that Winters lead in textbook fashion followed by him taking a swig of the wine the men were drinking with their dinner. Clearly displaying competence in battle is one way to garner respect, but you'd be surprised about all the quirky ways to endear yourself to your Soldiers as a leader, such as taking a drink when your men think you don't imbibe. 

Two instances for me that truly brought me close to my Soldiers and NCOs in Iraq. One makes sense, the other somewhat quirky:

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1. I was able to chase down and tackle a dude digging a hole for a roadside bomb. Simple. I ran fast and tackled a dude hard. Not bad for a backup QB/Holder. (In retrospect, this was wildly stupid because I was separated from my dismount team by about 40 yards but I just reacted in the moment. My platoon sergeant yelled at me about it later, rightfully so)

2. I beat my Platoon Sergeant in 1on1 hoops while the platoon watched. Stupid but effective for young Soldiers. 

Which brings me to my last point…

Age

We watch this series or movies about WWII and I think it's super easy to forget how old most of these guys were because the actors playing them are older. Most of these men were 18-24 years old. Think about that. Go look at pictures of yourself right after high school. Now imagine jumping out of plane during the biggest battle in WWII. It's no wonder these men came home and made mostly amazing lives for themselves. Their courage and resolve is uncommon to most folks these days, especially 18-24 year olds. Wild Bill was 21. LT Winters was 26. Think about what you were doing at 21 and 26 - was it anything compared to those men? 

That's it for Episode 2 - Day of Days

Episode 1: